President Donald Trump’s campaign has filed a lawsuit trying to halt the vote count in battleground Michigan.
The latest counts gives Trump’s Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, a small lead, but the race is still too early to call.
Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien says in a statement Wednesday that the campaign “has not been provided with meaningful access to numerous counting locations to observe the opening of ballots and the counting process, as guaranteed by Michigan law.”
He says a suit was filed Wednesday in the Michigan Court of Claims “to halt counting until meaningful access has been granted.”
The lawsuit asks that Michigan absent voter counting boards stop counting because they are not complying with a state statute that 1 election inspector from each major political party be present during counting.
It also asks that observers be allowed to view surveillance video of ballot boxes that were in "remote and unattended" locations.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office released a statement asserting the state's elections were "conducted transparently, with access provided for both political parties and the public, and using a robust system of checks and balances to ensure that all ballots are counted fairly and accurately."
After a statement issued by President Trump's 2020 campaign manager hinting at the possibility of a lawsuit being filed in Michigan challenging the state's ballot-counting process, Attorney General Dana Nessel's Press Secretary Ryan Jarvi issued the following response: pic.twitter.com/qPANSEGynn
— Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (@MIAttyGen) November 4, 2020
Michigan is a critical battleground state that helped deliver Trump the presidency four years ago, along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Neither Wisconsin or Pennsylvania has been called yet.